Transfer union could provoke end of euro zone

09:54 11.10.2017

Evidently, turning the euro zone into a so-called "transfer union", where richer member states are bound to finance poorer ones could potentially provoke the end of the single currency bloc. That’s what the head of Germany's Ifo economic institute told in an interview on Wednesday.

Euro parliament, EU finance minister, euro zone budget - all those things are unable of solving the problems of the euro zone. Moreover, they can even make things much worse, as Ifo chief Clemens Fuest revealed during a news conference just to outline his exclusive recommendations for the next coalition government after September’s election.

Some countries are backing an expansion of transfers in the euro zone, and it’s very dangerous, Fuest stressed. He added if Europeans look at what took place in Catalonia, they’ll get a taste of what really threatens the euro zone if they dare to convert the currency union into a sort of transfer union. In this case small and prosperous countries will immediately break up with the EU.